Road Trip!

What better way to get ourselves home than rent a car and see new places and old faces.  We rented a car in Carson City after taking a bus from Lone Pine.  Out first stop on the trip was in Coleville, California where our friends Tom and Tori live.  We hiked with Tom and Tori in 2009 on the PCT.  We had sent some packages there for a resupply out of Sonora Pass.  It was great to visit with Tom and Tori and their new baby, Kyla.  We feel so silly that we didn't take a picture!!  Next Stop was Yosemite where we purchased a National Parks Pass and did some sight-seeing and hiking around the falls.

Yosemite's upper falls and gorgeous meadows.

Next stop was Kings Canyon National Park where Garrett's friend Matt from college works with his girlfriend  Trina.  We did some hiking in the bottom of Kings Canyon.

We knew we had located Matt when we found this.

We ALSO found some GIANT sugar pine cones.  We immediately thought of some folks who might enjoy them back home...

Matt and Trina also took us to the Grant Grove where we saw General Grant, the world's third biggest tree, a Giant Sequoia.  We also climbed through some fallen sequoias that had been hollowed out by fire. 

The trees were pretty large.

beautiful big trees in the waning light of the day

Next stop:  Grand Teton National Park.  Here we visited our friend Chris Frank who works for the NPS in the park.

Chris works with the preservation department where he's been helping to restore this 1920s Dude Ranch.

The Grand Tetons along Jenny Lake

 Chris took us by the behind-the-scenes park workshop where he's been restoring some window sash.

Hiking along Jenny Lake.

Saying goodbye to the Grand Tetons!

We next made our way up further north in Wyoming to Yellowstone.

Where we waited for Old Faithful to go off!

And we did NOT approach the buffalo

We continued our drive east through Montana.

Reaching Fargo after a 12 hour drive through the northern grasslands.  My cousin  Elizabeth and her family live in Fargo.  Such fun playing with Lydia and Caleb and the balloons!

Cousins!  It was so nice to visit Lib and Greg because they live so far away under normal circumstances.

The next day was a doosy as we drove 14 hours from Fargo to Richmond, Indiana where my brother Christopher and his wife Kate live.  Hooray!  We had wanted to visit them here in their new town for many months.  We enjoyed two nights with them and lots of yummy food.  Here we are on the campus of Earlham eating beef tongue tacos.

we also video chatted with mom and dad!!

Next stop: Ann Arbor!  We stayed one night with my dear friend Mary and her family.

Mary is the creative mind behind a 6-year-old business to make meals from local ingredients.  It was fun to tour the Harvest  Kitchen in person and taste the delicious food.

Last stop: Ithaca, New York, where we delivered the very large pine cones to Kathy and Andy who are  using them as decoration  in their wedding this August.

Garrett's parents met us at the Binghamton Airport last night where we returned our rental car after approximately 4,000 miles of driving.  We're home now preparing for the Long Trail this weekend!